The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories

Peachy Carnahan and Daniel Dravot set off into the wild northern passes of India to build not a fortune, but an empire. They find a likely spot in Kafiristan, where Dravot manages to set himself up, not only as king, but as a god, and Peachy takes charge of the army. But ruling isn't always as easy as it looks. This program also includes the short stories "The Drums of the Fore and Aft" and "Mary Postgate," originally published in 1899.

The Jungle Book I & II

Tales of Mowgli, the boy raised by animals in the exotic jungles of India; Rikkitikkitavi, a courageous young mongoose who battles the sinister black cobra Nag; Toomai, the boy who works with elephants; and more will delight listeners both young and old. These classic stories brim with adventure and thrills as the lively characters fend off ferocious tigers and deadly snakes, slip through the jungle to watch elephants dance, and seek refuge from dangerous hunters.

Captains Courageous

Captains Courageous is Rudyard Kipling’s classic fable of a boy’s initiation into the fellowship of men, played out on the high seas of the late 1800s. When he falls overboard from a luxury liner, Harvey Cheyne, the spoiled son of an American millionaire, is rescued by a small New England fishing schooner. To earn his keep, Harvey must prove his worth in the only way the skipper and his hardy crew will accept: through the grueling mastery of a fisherman’s skills.

Plain Tales from the Hills

An intimate, evocative, often funny, and always vital portrait of India at the peak of the British Raj. Written at the age of 22, they immediately show Kipling's natural and prodigious talent. Timeless, they can be listened to forever.

Lord Jim

From his many years on the high seas as a mariner, mate, and captain, Joseph Conrad created unique works, including Heart of Darkness, that have left an indelible mark on world literature. First published in 1899, his haunting novel Lord Jim is both a riveting sea adventure and a fascinating portrait of a unique outcast from civilization.

Rudyard Kipling

This gripping biography mixes intimate detail with a thorough understanding of the social, intellectual, artistic, and political climate of the time to unravel the intricate story of the misunderstood genius who wrote Kim, the Jungle Books, and the poem "If."

Barnaby Rudge

In a case of mistaken identification, Barnaby Rudge, a pale half-wit with long red hair who dresses all in green and carries a large raven on his back, is arrested as the leader of a mob of anti-Catholic rioters. He is condemned to death on the gallows, but an upright locksmith named Gabriel Varden comes to his aid.

The Moonstone

No, the "Moonstone" isn't a celestial relic, it's a gigantic yellow diamond of unearthly beauty that was given to Rachel Verinder as a present on her 18th birthday - and stolen that very night! Betteredge, one of the most beloved butlers in English literature, is the focus of this seminal detective novel, which examines how one family's life is turned upside-down by the theft. And find out why the answers to all of life's problems can be found in the pages of Robinson Crusoe.

Vanity Fair [AudioGo]

Set during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this classic gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The novel revolves around the exploits of the impoverished but beautiful and devious Becky Sharp.

The Great Poets: Rudyard Kipling

This anthology of Kipling's most famous poems - including "If", "Mandalay", "Gunga Din" - is taken from Naxos AudioBooks' Great Poets series. Though sometimes still regarded as a product of the colonial era, Kipling touches a very popular nerve in Britain's literary tradition and is regarded more generously now as a master of popular verse. It is often forgotten that he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.

David Copperfield [Audible]

Between his work on the 2014 Audible Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, and his performance of Classic Love Poems, narrator Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Hannibal) has quickly become a listener favorite. Now, in this defining performance of Charles Dickens' classic David Copperfield, Armitage lends his unique voice and interpretation, truly inhabiting each character and bringing real energy to the life of one of Dickens' most famous characters.

Gargantua and Pantagruel

Here is a grotesque and carnivalesque collection of exuberant, fantastical stories that takes us from the ancient world through to the European Renaissance. At the heart of these tall tales are the giant Gargantua and his equally seismic son, Pantagruel. Containing magical adventures, maniacal punning, slapstick humor, erudite allusions, and just about any bodily function one can think of, here is quite possibly the zaniest, most risqué book ever written.

The Way We Live Now

In this world of bribes, vendettas and swindling, in which heiresses are gambled and won, Trollope's characters embody all the vices: Lady Carbury is 'false from head to foot'; her son Felix has 'the instincts of a horse, not approaching the higher sympathies of a dog'; and Melmotte - the colossal figure who dominates the book - is a 'horrid, big, rich scoundrel... a bloated swindler... a vile city ruffian'.

The Jewel in the Crown: Raj Quartet

In the India of 1942, two rapes take place simultaneously - that of an English girl in Mayapore, and that of India by the British. In each, physical violence, racial animosity, the coercion of the weak by the strong all play their part, but playing a part too are love, affection, loyalty, and recognition that the last division of all to be overcome is the colour of the skin.

Middlemarch

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.

Jude the Obscure

When the great Thomas Hardy published this heart-wrenching novel, he had no idea it would be his last. But the book stirred so much controversy and protest, Hardy vowed to never write fiction again. Jude the Obscure tells the story of a stonemason, tricked into a loveless marriage, who craves a formal education and a finer existence. Separated from his wife, Jude begins a new life with his cousin, and the couple defies social convention at every turn.

The Buddha and the Sahibs: The men who discovered India's lost religion

For nearly 1,000 years, from the destruction of temples and monasteries by Muslim invaders in the 11th and 12th centuries, followed by Hinduism’s increasing power, Buddhism vanished from the country of its origin. Though hugely influential throughout Asia, the religion was forgotten in India.

The Rainbow

Set in the rural midlands of England, The Rainbow revolves around three generations of Brangwens, a family deeply involved with the land and noted for their strength and vigour. When Tom Brangwen marries a Polish widow, Lydia Lensky, and adopts her daughter Anna as his own, he is unprepared for the conflict and passion that erupts between them. Their stories continue in Women in Love.

Publisher's Summary

Rudyard Kipling's classic adventure story, Kim, tells the tale of an Irish soldier's orphan son, who roams the back alleys and bazaars of British-ruled India. The young urchin learns the rules and language of the dirty streets, until he discovers his father's old army regiment. Suddenly, Kim abandons his former life and native customs, buys expensive European clothing, and begins a new career as a secret agent. Both an exciting adventure and a detailed look at a spy's inner conflicts, Kim is one of Kipling's most important and popular novels.

This is one of those novels that I read and listened to and instantly regreted not reading earlier when I was a boy. I was able, however, to experience listening to this book with my two kids (one boy 12; one girl 11). It was perfect. I wandered into it expecting a well-written, more or less Empire-centric Colonial novel. It was way more than that. I get the whole Postcolonial Lit thing, but I'm not ready to abandon Kim to this debate or even the Colonial designation. It is so much more. It is an bildungsroman, an adventure story, a wild vibration of the whole of India (North and South, mountains and plains, rich and poor, rivers and roads, believer and unbeliever).

I was a tad worried at first that the specificity of the place and time would throw off my kids , but it was like driving through a country bazar in a foreign country. They didn't understand every sign or shout, but were transported by the smells, the vistas and the atmosphere of Kipling's last great masterpiece.

I liked Margaret Hilton's narration and for most of the novel she absolutely disappeared behind the prose - a task that isn't easy by Kipling's ability to float and bob between native Hind and English languages.

Kim is a great book, a fabulous story and a classic. I gave this a poor rating because the sound quality is so terrible it is almost impossible to hear even in the quietest of listening spots let alone in the traffic jam where I enjoy most of my audiobooks.

This is a great traditional classic with a wealth of information about a distant culture and context. Filled with information and adventure. But the narration is a big problem. The reader delivers every sentence with a very artificial and insensitive pattern of pauses, emphasis and speeds--as if it were all poetry. Much of the book is dialogue and each character has exactly the same intonation--you can listen to huge chunks and eventually only some feature of the content tells you who is speaking--and the content you need takes a long time to pick up because the sentences are all being broken down into little chunks by the unchanging style of reading. It makes an exciting story intolerably boring by the end.

I would and have recommended the book to my friends. This book is written about an orphan boy, but written for adults.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the way that Kipling can put you in among the crowds in rural India in the late 1800's. He brings the sounds and smells right into your mind and lets you feel like you are among the people he is writing about. There is a game Kim was taught that the CIA uses today to teach their agents to see what they are looking at. I am amazed that the story is over a century old and still relevant today. It is a full and rich story that will bring the reader many hours of pleasure, long after the tale is told.

Which character – as performed by Margaret Hilton – was your favorite?

Why Kim of course!

If you could rename Kim, what would you call it?

The changeling!

Any additional comments?

Kipling wrote the "Jungle Book" and it was made into a children's movie, but once you read it you will know it was written for the adult mind. Kim is a master piece and should be on your "Don't Miss" list. You will love this book and I hope you think of this review after your done reading it.

Before you buy this note that the best file format you can get it in is 2. This was a lesson for me. Unfortunately the poorer quality file formats are not suitable for the way that I listen to audio books which is in the car on an iPod connected to my stereo through the cassette player. It's okay if you want to listen on headphones or a computer, just not for the car, in my opinion.

I have never listened to this audio even though I bought it in 2004 because the quality of the recording was so poor. I was hoping that in the intervening years it might have been rerecorded with in a higher quality format. Alas that has not happened.

I found this to be a very poor recording, even though I always download at the highest available quality. It is somewhat hissy and distorted. I have actually given up listening to it, because it is too much of a struggle to follow. Pity, as it sounds like an excellent tale. I would recommend listening to the sample before purchase.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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